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China-India border dispute: 2 unreported clashes occurred in 2022, even as Beijing and New Delhi held peace talks
- Details of the new clashes emerged after the Indian Army awarded gallantry medals to soldiers it said challenged Chinese troops trying to enter Indian territory
- The India-China border dispute dates back to the 1950s, and the two sides fought a brief but bloody war over it in 1962
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Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed at least two times in 2022 along their Himalayan frontier, where they have been involved in a bitter stand-off since 2020, according to new details that have emerged from the Indian Army’s gallantry award citations.
The incidents involved hand-to-hand combat and came as New Delhi and Beijing held a series of diplomatic and military talks to resolve their worst military conflict in decades.
No deaths were reported in these incidents. At least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in clashes in the area two years previously, in mid-2020.
These skirmishes in India’s Ladakh region, the last of which is now known to have happened in November 2022, show that the tensions along the unmarked border continued much longer than previously reported.
The Indian and Chinese armies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Details of the new clashes emerged after the Indian Army awarded gallantry medals to some of its soldiers, who it said challenged Chinese troops trying to enter Indian territory in at least two incidents in 2022.
In the first incident in January 2022, according to a citation, “several soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attacked” an Indian Army post in the eastern Ladakh region.
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